Reinventing the Nation: Made in China 2025

[TaiShang]

'Made in China' embraces new brand image
Xinhua, August 22, 2017
The "Made in China" label has long stood for cheap, inferior and low-end products. But today, such a perception no longer holds water.

In recent years, product quality in China is quietly edging up as the country is seeking to shift its growth equation away from exports and investment toward consumption.

A large number of respectable Chinese brands such as Huawei and Xiaomi are emerging rapidly, providing durable, top-notch and fashionable goods from appliances to smartphones to high-speed railcars.

Some high quality Chinese products not only compete with their foreign competitors when entering overseas markets, but have even begun to surpass them.

China's 'golden business card'

Regular delays and overcrowding have become synonymous with riding the subway in Boston, a city home to an extensive but also one of the oldest underground networks in the United States.

But in about two years, Boston riders could soon enjoy more comfortable on state-of-the-art subway cars, which will have larger seats, LCD monitors, CCTV-operated display screens and automatic passenger counting systems.

The subway cars will be designed and built by China's largest high-speed railcar maker CRRC, which is the largest train maker in the world and has been rapidly expanding its presence stateside by winning contracts in major jurisdictions.

"No more sleepless nights with 40-year-old subway cars rattling under the streets of Boston," said Zhou Chuanhe, chairman and president of the CRRC Massachusetts. "Boston is a center for great transportation and should be able to point with pride to its subway cars."

On April 3, the metro train model for Boston made its debut at City Hall Plaza.

From gear and screw assemblies, cold-resistant and heat-resistant technologies to breakthroughs in the integrated control systems, the shiny new railcars are an embodiment of the company's numerous innovative achievements.

"We are confident that CRRC will be able to deliver the vehicles that we need to move the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) into the 21st century," said Stephanie Pollack, secretary and CEO of the Massachusetts Transportation Department.

The CRRC, also known as China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation, was formed in 2015 through the merger of China's top two train makers. The Boston contract the company won before the merger was China's first major rail contract in North America, and CRRC built a rail car manufacturing plant in Springfield to fulfill the contract.

Since its accession to the market in 2014, CRRC has so far won 1,359 subway car and commuter train car orders in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

The past half year alone witnessed 184 subway car orders in Boston and Los Angeles, as well as 45 commuter train car deals in Philadelphia.

"We've ventured out into the foreign markets, successfully innovated our business model, and gained a foothold in the market, where CRRC has become China's 'golden business card,'" said CRRC President Liu Hualong.

The Chinese company will not only bring comfort and convenience to commuters but also will greatly help boost local economic growth and employment.

"From supporting the local economy in Springfield and creating new manufacturing jobs to improving public transportation for Massachusetts commuters and visitors, this project brings with it extensive benefits across the Commonwealth," said Governor of Massachusetts Charlie Baker.

"Since the company entered the United States, we brought benefits such as employment - we provided almost 400 jobs," Liu said in an interview with media in May.

With superior quality and numerous technological innovations, the "Made-in-China" high-speed trains are now witnessing growing popularity in the global market.

CRRC also supplied subway trains to Saudi Arabia to meet the country's transport needs between Riyadh and Mecca, and CRRC-made trains were used in Rio de Janeiro's key Olympic transport metro line.

In April, CRRC agreed a sale of 22 meter-gauge trains to Malaysia and it has also been awarded a contract for a fleet of 11 eight-car trains to operate on Indonesia's Jakarta-Bandung high-speed line.

'Made in China' becomes cool

The rapid development of China's high-speed train industry offers only a glimpse into the rapid transformation and upgrading of "Made in China" products in recent years.

On the back of technological prowess and good value, an increasing number of Chinese companies, including Huawei, Lenovo, Gree, Xiaomi and drone maker DJI-Innovation, have gained footholds in the international market, paving the way for a wave of global Chinese brands.

Take the cell phone industry for example. Chinese smartphone brands, such as Huawei, Oppo and Vivo, have seen dramatic increase in shipments over the past years and ate into the market share of their foreign rivals such as Apple and Samsung.

Advancing rapidly into new markets worldwide, Huawei is now the world's third largest smartphone manufacturer, with a close to 10 percent market share in the first quarter this year. Its products are particularly welcomed in Europe, where the company is growing at an unprecedented pace with better products and a new brand image.

In India, Chinese brands have together accounted for 51 percent share in smartphone segment as of late 2016.

In August 2016, Chinese smartphone vendor ZTE took 9.4 percent of the Russian smartphone market in terms of quantity shares, coming in the second place and exceeding the share of Apple's iPhone for the first time.

Transsion, a Shenzhen-based company whose products are sold under the Tecno, itel and Infinix brand names, has grabbed 40 percent of the African market.

By developing handsets with dual SIM-card slots and optimizing its cameras to better highlight the feature of people with dark skin tones, the smartphone manufacturer, which few Chinese have heard of, has become the top player in Africa's fast growing smartphone market.

The success of Chinese brands can be attributed to their better user experience, faster adoption of 4G technology and greater emphasis on cameras, according to an article on India's Livemint website.

"Chinese smartphones are beautiful, bold and cheap, according to an article on CNN's website. "They typically cost just a couple hundred bucks without a contract, and they offer some unique features American phones don't have."

The title of the article sums it up: "Your next smartphone could be from China."

 

[JSCh]

Huge rare earth industrial park coming to Inner Mongolia
By Meng Fanbin in Baotou, Inner Mongolia | China Daily | Updated: 2017-08-29 07:37

The largest rare earth new material industrial park in China is expected to be built in Baotou, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, promoted by technological innovation and the "Made in China 2025" strategy.

"The national-level new material park is planned with a total area of 470 square kilometers, supported by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the autonomous region," said He Weihua, deputy mayor of Baotou, at the Ninth China Baotou Rare Earth Industry Forum on Monday.

Aimed at promoting global cooperation and exchanges in related trade, manufacturing, research and applications, the forum is a high-end meeting of leaders in the rare earth industry; This year's topic is scientific and technological innovation.

"China's rare earth mining, selection, metallurgy and the research of some materials are at the leading position globally," Li Chunlong, chairman of China Rare Earth Association, said at the forum, stressing that the fundamental ways to develop the sector lie in application.

The rare earth park will concentrate on the application of six kinds of new materials, including nanometers, high-polymer, new types of fiber, new graphite and highly purified rare earth metal materials, He said.

The city has laid out a program of highly purified rare earth metal materials covering an area of 0.45 square kilometers, with annual output of 30,000 metric tons, which is expected to be the largest highly purified rare earth materials area in the world.

Rare earth metal materials are widely used in sectors including aerospace, defense, robotics and medical instruments.

Several projects have made significant achievements at the park: Shenhua Group's coal-to-olefin projects with investment of 34 billion yuan ($5.07 billion) have realized revenue of 13 billion yuan.

A stainless steel project invested in by Mintal Group, a metallurgical joint venture held by China Minmetals and Goldman Sachs, is expected to achieve a revenue of 22 billion yuan, after being put into operation.

Until now, the area with infrastructure facilities including communication, natural gas and industrial water, has reached 25 square kilometers, with a strong ability to increase capacity and attract investment.

In 2016, the park's accumulated industrial output reached 37.15 billion yuan, rising 27.8 percent year-on-year, and the revenue has reached 55 billion yuan, surging 40.9 percent compared with that in 2015.

The rare earth industrial reserve in Baotou has been demonstrated to be about 43.5 million tons, accounting for 83.7 percent of the total reserve in China and 38 percent in the world.

The rare earth new material industry developed fast in Baotou in recent years, with 71 transformation and upgrading projects conducted in 2015-16, supported by special funds from the central government.

President Xi Jinping has repeatedly given instructions to accelerate the development of the new material industry, said a senior official at the forum.

Last December, the State Council set up a national new material development leading group, showing that the government attaches great importance to the development of the industry.

 

[TaiShang]

China eyes innovation to drive manufacturing upgrades
Xinhua, August 28, 2017

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang presides over a meeting with government officials and executives of leading manufacturers on manufacturing upgrades and economic restructuring in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 25, 2017. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)


China will count on innovation to drive manufacturing upgrades and economic restructuring, encouraging industry giants to make breakthroughs in core technology and take advantage of the Internet to reshape development, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has said.

Li made the remarks at a meeting with government officials and executives of leading manufacturers Friday.

"Manufacturing is the foundation of economic development," Li said. "China economic transformation and new industrialization rely on a strong manufacturing sector."

But Chinese manufacturers as a whole are still at the mid- and low-end of international division of labor, they are big but not always strong, Li said.

The country should briskly push forward its "Made in China 2025" strategy to bring the manufacturing to a new level, with measures to eliminate outdated capacity and techniques and step up shifts of economic engines, Li said.

When discussing with entrepreneurs, the premier called on homegrown companies to improve diversity, quality and the brand value of their products, and vigorously follow international standards. Braving global competition will "prompt innovation and breakthroughs in core technology," Li said.

Manufacturers should foster new advantages of high quality and applicability of their products and wean-off the reliance on cheap costs, which will help more domestic brands become well-known around the globe, according to Li.

Highlighting innovation in management systems, Li asked companies to use Internet and big data technologies to reorganize their research and development, production and business patterns.

"Customized production should be promoted to meet diverse market demand," Li said.

 

[TaiShang]

Source: Hong Kong Trade Office

@Chinese-Dragon , @JSCh , @cirr , @grey boy 2 , @kristisipe , @faithfulguy

 

[cirr]

China IIoT market to see 20% CAGR in next four years

Jean Chu, Taipei; Willis Ke, DIGITIMES

[Tuesday 17 October 2017]

In line with the advent of the Industry 4.0 era, China is aggressively gearing up for the development of IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) applications to accelerate industrial upgrades and transformations, with its domestic IIoT market scale estimated to experience a CAGR of 20% during 2016-201, according to a report issued by China-based Qianzhan Industry Research Institute.

The report cited declining labor productivity, thinning demographic dividend, and spiraling production cost as the major factors driving China authorities to step up promoting industrial upgrades and transformations. The government has come up with a spate of policies associated with its "Made in China 2025" program to effectively fuel innovative development of industries in the country.

IIoT is one of the major segments of IoT applications, with manufacturing, warehousing and logistics operations having to rely heavily on the IIoT advantages of collecting and analyzing the data concerning operation lines and equipment to satisfy their tracking, forecasting and pre-warning needs, according to the report.

Meanwhile, statistics compiled by China-based CCID Consulting showed that driven by policy support and strong market demand, the China IIoT market scale is estimated to reach CNY450 billion (US$68 billion) by the end of 2020. It said the key to China's booming development of IIoT applications and the rapidly expanding market scale rests with robust development of software platforms in the country.

Deployments of IIoT software platforms

To explore the huge market potentials, international industrial heavyweights have rushed to set up relevant operating platforms in China. Germany's Siemens, for instance, launched in 2016 its Mindsphere platform, which is an open, cloud-based operating system allowing users to connect their machines or physical infrastructures to the digital world. In March 2017, US-based General Electric (GE) also teamed up with China Telecom to debut an IIoT software platform dubbed Predix, aiming to build an open industrial Internet ecosystem and offer corporate application solutions to drive the digital transformation of China's industrial manufacturing.

Sany Heavy Industry, the largest engineering machinery maker in China, inaugurated its Root Cloud Platform in February 2017 to provide traditional enterprises with high-efficiency equipment analysis and forecast, and render them operational support, ranging from product design, production, equipment leasing and maintenance, and big data analysis.

In April this year, China-based Haier Group also released its Cloud of Smart Manufacture Operation Platform (COSMO Plat) to integrate the resources of users and developers of manufacturing equipment to facilitate smart manufacturing.

Besides software platforms, network standards also count significantly in bolstering the development of IIoT applications. While such standards as Fieldbus, EtherCAT and TSN, and IO-Link have been widely discussed in the market, China's Huawei has come out with its Agile IoT Solution based on SDN architecture, allowing users to transmit data through Agile IoT gateways and to Agile Controller which connects IoT devices, sensors, terminals and gateways to integrate the entire IIoT operations.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20171017PD207.html?mod=0

 

[JSCh]

Volume 95 Issue 42 | pp. 16-17
Issue Date: October 23, 2017 | Web Date: October 18, 2017
‘Made in China’ now extends to chemical process technology
Local technology developers focus on ethanol production, reducing coal’s carbon footprint

By Jean-François Tremblay

Until recently, when it came to China and state-of-the-art chemical manufacturing technologies, it was a one-way street: Chinese firms licensed processes from the West or Japan. Or judging from lawsuits over the past 20 years, Chinese companies just used Western know-how. Going the other way, China had almost nothing interesting to offer.

This axiom of the chemical industry is rapidly changing as foreign chemical companies start to see China as a source of manufacturing expertise. Earlier this year, Shanxi Lu’an Group demonstrated the viability of a process for converting carbon dioxide and methane into synthesis gas at its plant in northern China. The process was developed by Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (SARI) with the support of funds provided by Shell. The oil major has priority in buying the international rights to the process.

Other Western companies also see China as a potential source of process technology. Evonik Industries announced in August that it and the oil and chemical giant Sinopec will set up a process development lab in Beijing for organic solvent nanofiltration technology. At the time, Evonik stated that new technologies developed at the lab will be marketed to chemical, food, and drug producers in Asia.

For the past two decades, China has invested heavily in R&D. The research was initially aimed at developing new products, but process development has more recently turned into a major focus. At the moment, beefed-up budgets for process research are aimed at solving uniquely Chinese challenges, such as using coal as a chemical feedstock. But as China’s process design expertise advances, processes developed in the country will increasingly find users abroad.

“The quality of processes developed in China is improving,” confirms Yunjie Ding, a professor specializing in industrial catalysis at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP). Over the past decade, Ding and his group have developed several processes that have been commercially implemented at chemical plants in China.

“It’s a cycle that keeps building up,” Ding says. “When we get positive results, we get more funding, which makes it more likely that we will be successful again.”

R&D efforts to develop products and processes adapted to local needs and situations are the “next logical step” for China, says Kenneth M. Stern, a New York City-based senior managing director at FTI Consulting who has spent most of his career in the chemical industry.

“China is already the largest market for chemicals in the world, and demand growth remains robust,” Stern says. “This has led to the rapid growth of Chinese chemical production as well as chemical research, which is often necessary for adapting products to local needs.”

At DICP, several of the processes that Ding and his team of 30 scientists and students researched in recent years relate to the use of coal as a starting material. China has rich coal deposits but relatively small oil reserves. Ding’s team refined technologies for producing ethanol from acetic acid, methanol, and synthesis gas, all of which can be derived from coal. With the world’s largest fleet of motor vehicles, China is a huge potential market for fuel ethanol.

Some of the processes developed at DICP are superior to what’s available from Western providers, Ding claims. For instance, his process for the hydrogenation of acetic acid to make low-cost ethanol yields more than a competing technology from the U.S. firm Celanese does, he says. DICP tested the technology in a 30,000-metric-ton-per-year plant last year.

“We benchmarked against the Celanese process,” he says. The DICP technology is “superior to Celanese’s due to our process using a zeolite membrane for dewatering.”

At SARI, the process for turning CO2 into syngas is a notable success for an institute that was formed only five years ago. The technology was developed by SARI’s Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science & Engineering, a so-called Key Laboratory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Home to 200 staff researchers and graduate students, the lab is generously funded by the Chinese government, the City of Shanghai, and Chinese and international companies.

Shell provided a total of $10 million to SARI between 2013 and 2017 and recently renewed the agreement, says Yuhan Sun, the lab’s founding director. The low-carbon lab is one of a handful of institutes and universities worldwide—others include Imperial College London and Massachusetts Institute of Technology—to receive financial support from Shell, he notes.

The original mission of Sun’s low-carbon lab was “to reduce the carbon footprint of high-carbon fossil fuels” such as coal. Central government planners have assigned a key role to coal in China’s mix of energy sources, he says.

Wind and solar energy are appropriate for parts of China that are not densely populated. Nuclear energy, hydroelectricity, natural gas, and imported crude oil make sense in other regions. But in the northern hinterland, in areas like Shanxi, Henan, and Inner Mongolia where China’s coal mines are located, companies are instead continuing to pursue coal in ways that limit its environmental impact, Sun explains.

Wison developed this oxidative dehydrogenation process and has sold it to plant operators in China. Making use of a proprietary catalyst, the process converts C4 feedstock—a by-product of methanol-to-olefins plants—to 1,3-butadiene. It converts more n-butene than traditional processes and consumes less energy, Wison claims.

The CO2-to-syngas process will be useful at coal-to-chemical and coal-to-liquid-fuel plants in China’s north, Sun says. It can also be applied to other sources of CO2, including waste gas from steel mills and coke ovens.

An important opportunity, notable for its possible use outside China, is integrating the process into facilities processing CO2-rich natural gas, which is present offshore in the South China Sea and in other parts of the world. In addition to Shell, state-owned firms such as China National Offshore Oil Corp. have expressed interest in SARI’s technology, Sun says.

New processes are being developed not only at government-funded institutes but also at private Chinese companies. Wison Engineering, one of China’s largest providers of engineering, design, and construction services to the chemical and oil refining sectors, operates a research facility at its Shanghai headquarters that employs 47 people. The facility is also home to a lab run jointly by Wison and the Danish catalyst producer Haldor Topsoe to develop catalysts for the Chinese market.

Wison’s R&D budget keeps increasing, says Yangsheng Li, the company’s chief scientist. “We keep the research budget at a constant percentage of sales, and the sales rise every year,” he explains. Customers expect a major supplier like Wison to conduct some process development research, but Wison’s commitment to R&D is important for other reasons, Li acknowledges. “The company’s commitment to R&D also gets preferential policy support from the government,” he adds. “After achieving a certain annual R&D spending, the company gets some tax exemptions from the City of Shanghai.”

Wison’s research efforts have yielded tangible results and attracted the attention of foreign firms, Li says. Licensing could become a noticeable source of profits for the company in the coming years, he adds. So far, three customers use a coal gasification process that Wison codeveloped in partnership with Shell in China.

Earlier this year, Honeywell’s UOP division signed a deal with Wison to market the two companies’ services outside China. The two firms will promote a package combining UOP’s methanol-to-olefins process, Wison’s design and construction services, and Wison’s olefins separation technology. In China, Wison has already licensed the separation process to 11 customers.

But Wison’s most promising process at the moment is for the dehydrogenation of butene into butadiene, Li says. Two Chinese customers have licensed the technology, one of which is using it. And Wison has received dozens of inquiries from other chemical plant operators, he adds. “I believe it’s the world’s best butene dehydrogenation technology.”

At SARI, Sun reckons that it is the dawn of China’s emergence as a supplier of chemical manufacturing technologies. His lab is only now setting up a company that will license the processes it develops. He expects that process innovation will flourish in China, both because of increased government funding and because researchers stand to benefit financially from their discoveries.

About a year ago, China allowed researchers to be shareholders in the companies licensing their processes to others. Sun says he wishes such rules existed in his younger years because he fears he doesn’t have much time left in his career to benefit from them. Referring to younger colleagues, he says, “It’s a golden time for them to be developing processes in this country.”

Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2017 American Chemical Society



‘Made in China’ now extends to chemical process technology | October 23, 2017 Issue - Vol. 95 Issue 42 | Chemical & Engineering News

 

[cirr]

World's most powerful computer will boost nation, scientist says

2017-10-19 10:48chinadaily.com.cnEditor: Li Yahui

China is developing and building the Tianhe-3, the world's first exascale supercomputer, a leading scientist said. When completed it will be capable of a quintillion (a billion, billion or 1 followed by 18 zeros) calculations per second.

It will be 10 times faster the current world leader, China's Sunway TaihuLight, and will "become an important platform for national scientific development and industrial reforms," Meng Xiangfei, head of the applications department of the National Supercomputer Center, told reporters at the sidelines of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. [Special coverage]

The new supercomputer will step up development in big data and artificial intelligence, he said. It will also work with traditional industries like steel and mining to build business models, as well as creating smart-healthcare and smart cities.

"It will support the building of a healthier and more digitized China," said Meng, a delegate to the Party Congress.

Right now, Tianhe-1, China's first quadrillion (1 followed by 15 zeros) calculations per second supercomputer, is carrying out more than 1,400 computing tasks simultaneously and it can complete around 10,000 tasks per day, said Meng.

"China's is leading the world in supercomputer application," he said, adding that Tianhe-1 is serving more than 1,600 research institutes and companies from more than 20 provinces.

Users are taking advantage of the massive computing power to scan the Earth for oil, create artificial nuclear fusion, build airplanes and maritime equipment, Meng said.

"Information technology has become the core driver for innovation and industry change," he said. "We should continue to push for deeper integration between the Internet Plus, big data and AI with other industries."

Meng turned 38 on Wednesday, the opening day of the congress. "Most of China's science workers are between the ages of 30 to 40," he said.

"China aims to become a technological powerhouse by 2035," he said. Every year, China sees more than 600,000 postgraduates and PhDs qualify, as well as millions of college graduates entering China's innovation workforce, he added.

"China will continue to unleash its innovation power, and I am fully confident that China will become an innovative and technology strong nation," he said.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/10-19/277638.shtml

 

[TaiShang]

E-commerce brings quality China-made products to the world

By Zhang Huan (People's Daily Online) 15:43, December 13, 2017

The rapid development of e-commerce is bringing more and more quality China-made products to consumers around the world, Economic Information Daily reported on Dec. 13.

Export transaction of China’s cross-border e-commerce reached 2.75 trillion yuan ($415.3 billion) in the first half of 2017, up 31.5 percent on a year-on-year basis, according to a report released by China’s Ministry of Commerce.

Statistics by Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com shows that Chinese-made products, including the most popular smartphones, household appliances, toys, household supplies, and outdoor sports equipment are sold to over 200 countries and regions in the world.

Chinese electronics giant Hisense also disclosed that 520,000 of its televisions were sold out in less than 24 hours on the “Black Friday” in the United States.

E-commerce now offers a convenient way for Chinese products to go global, said Cao Lei, director at China Electronic Commerce Research Center.

In recent years, Chinese enterprises have been improving the quality of their products, technologies, and price competitiveness, which will benefit global consumers through rapidly-developing e-commerce platforms, Liu Bing, head of Shandong Macro-economy Research Institute noted.

http://en.people.cn/n3/2017/1213/c90000-9304062.html

 

[TaiShang]

Boost for Made in China 2025

By Chu Daye Source:Global Times Published: 2018/4/25

Upgrading moving ahead, despite obstacles

Robot arms work at a factory in Changsha, capital of Central China's Hunan Province. Photo: IC

The Made in China 2025 initiative has made fresh progress in the first quarter, even though the upgrading of China's manufacturing industry faces obstacles caused by policy shifts in major developed economies, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Wednesday.

The work on national demonstration zones is progressing and the country has seen speedy development in integrated circuits, industrial robots, new-energy vehicles, and new materials, said Chen Yin, the MIIT spokesperson.

The ministry has helped in nurturing State-level innovative manufacturing centers, and five such centers - devoted to batteries, additive manufacturing, information optoelectronics, printing and flexible displays, and robotics - have been established so far, according to Chen.

"Plus about 60 such centers at the provincial level across the country have started to take shape," Chen said.

However, Chen also noted that the process of upgrading and transferring toward high-quality growth is facing a number of obstacles given the shift in economic policy in some major developed countries and the rising friction in global trade.

Rapid progress

Zhang Yue, an analyst with market research firm IDC, said China has seen new progress in industrial internet in the first quarter.

The concept of industrial internet was first coined by US conglomerate GE, but after several years of preparation, Chinese firms such as Sany Heavy Industry Co are maturing in this regard, Zhang said.

"From now to 2020, China is expected to see a number of manufacturing enterprises maturing in grasping the power of the internet, and some heavy machinery or high-value equipment makers will see their business models transform from selling equipment to selling data-based services such as predictive maintenance and financial services," Zhang told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist for IHS Markit, said the Made in China 2025 initiative has been very successful to date, generating rapid growth in output for new technology sectors and helping China to become the world leader in manufacturing of new-energy vehicles (NEVs).

"Chinese multinationals are already among the global leaders in developing new electric batteries, including Chinese firms BYD Co and CATL," Biswas said in an email sent to the Global Times on Wednesday.

The eased restrictions on foreign NEVs' investment "will help to create an innovative, competitive market for the rapid development of NEV technology and to create a leading hub for the development of battery technology," Biswas noted.

Chen from the MIIT also said there is still a gap between Chinese and foreign firms in terms of the design and production of chips. The comment came as the US decision to suspend the supply of chips to Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ZTE threatens the company's operation and survival.

Zhang said the US might be alarmed by China's rapid technological breakthroughs such as the C919 airliner, and the ZTE incident underlines the importance of developing homegrown core technology.

However, moves by developed countries to levy high tariffs on key intermediary imports from China might yet prove to be a boon for Chinese manufacturers, Zhang said.

"Suppose a tariff caused the costs for Chinese manufacturers to rise sharply - the Chinese firms would have to seek ways to drastically reduce costs, probably either by employing more automation with industrial robots or by boosting R&D on key parts," Zhang said.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1099662.shtml

@Jlaw

 

[TaiShang]

GMIC Beijing attracts AI-themed products

By Guo Meiping, Pan Zhaoyi
2018-04-26


The Global Mobile Internet Conference kicked off in Beijing on Thursday, underlining the trend of artificial intelligence (AI) has been shifting from things like home robots and smart speakers to something more necessary for daily lives, such as autonomous vehicles, food printer and gadget for public security.

Mobile executives, entrepreneurs, developers, and investors from around the globe gathered for the three-day event to discuss hot topics in the tech world.

Organized by the Great Wall Club (GWC), this year marks the 10th anniversary of GMIC Beijing. With the theme “AI Genesis”, more than 200 companies appeared in the exhibition area and demonstrated their latest technology.

Click here to watch the rebroadcast of the tour in GMIC Beijing’s exhibition area.

Highlights from the exhibition area

- Huawei Honor 10

Huawei Honor 10 features AI camera. /CGTN Photo

Echoing the theme of this year’s GMIC Beijing, Huawei exhibits their latest Honor series – Honor 10, featuring its AI camera. With the intelligent photography algorithms, the Honor 10 can identify 13 different types of scenes and objects.

It automatically adjusts your camera settings to help you shoot like an expert. The other shining function is the AI-powered Portrait mode, which can deliver sharp portrait edges and more accuracy in background blurring.

- Xpeng electric vehicle

Electric SUV G3 from Xpeng. /CGTN Photo

Chinese startup Xpeng, an Internet electric car company committed to making future vehicles for the young generation, displays its hottest model – G3 at the exhibition.

The G3 features a panorama cabin, as well as a roof-mounted camera that provides a view with an unobstructed field of vision. Right now the vehicle can handle some parking situations entirely on its own with the current technology, which means a lot for the new drivers.

- Shiyin 3D chocolate printer

The 3D chocolate printer of Shiyin (L) and printed desserts (R). /CGTN Photo

One of the most crowded spots in the exhibition area was the booth Shiyin, which demonstrates 3D chocolate printers. By scanning the QR code and drawing the things you want to print on your smartphone, a piece unique looking chocolate could be printed out in 3 to 5 minutes.

The device uses the principles of rapid prototyping to layer molten chocolate, rather than plastic.

- LLvision smart glasses

LLvision staff demonstrates smart galsses. /CGTN Photo

Remember the facial recognition glasses wore security personnel at Zhengzhou East Railway Station during the Chinese Spring Festival rush?

Using technology from LLvision, police officers read passengers' information at one glance by matching faces captured by the accessory’s scanner with existing profile photos stored in a database. Outlaws on the run and suspected criminals using fake IDs would be immediately identified.

So far, the AI glasses have identified seven fugitives involved in crimes including trafficking and hit-and-run accidents. Twenty-six people suspected of holding fake IDs were also spotted.

China aims to build leading AI industry by 2030

Passengers board train by facial recognition rather than ticket or ID. /CFP Photo

AI has been gaining momentum in China. Last July, the country unveiled its plan to build an AI technologically world-leading domestic industry by 2030.

In the first stage, domestic companies and research facilities are expected to be at the same level as leading countries like the US by 2020, when it could foster more national professional talents and companies for global AI development.

Five years later, the AI technology is tasked to become “a key impetus for economic transformation” in China. In the final stage, the country is expected to be the world’s premier AI innovation center by 2030.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d674d7a45544d77457a6333566d54/share_p.html

 

[TaiShang]

Chinese brands go global

CGTN's Liang Rui
2018-05-10

Chinese brands are spreading all over the world as the government spares no effort to implement its “opening-up and going-out” policy.

The first Chinese Brands Day on May 10 was part of that undertaking.

As a prelude to what is actually a three-day celebration, the first exposition on China Indigenous Brands is being held in Shanghai until Saturday, with the theme of “China Brand World Sharing.” The expo has attracted over 800 participants from around the world as well as 500 well-known brands.

A list of the 100 most valuable Chinese brands was also jointly unveiled by public and private Chinese organizations ahead of the Chinese Brands Day. The list shows that the top 100 have a combined value of about five trillion yuan.

Guess who are the big winners among the 1,346 companies in the ranking? Internet giant Tencent is the most valuable brand, with an estimated worth of 308.4 billion yuan, closely followed by rival Alibaba, two billion yuan less.

Chinese brands in financial sectors contribute the most in terms of value, at 1,721 billion yuan. That means they account for about 30 percent of the total value of top 100 brands.

Analysts say such data signal Chinese brands already occupy the market step by step, domestically and abroad. They add that quality paired with global communication is a key to the success of Chinese brands in foreign markets.

"In the UK, the two brands that are most present are Huawei and Lenovo, and interestingly they're now starting to build much more of a profile and be associated with premiumness and quality, rather than playing the volume game that Chinese brands have previously,” said Martin Guerrieria, Global BrandZ research director at Kantar Millward Brown.

Guerrieria said the whole connotations around Made-in-China would have been a negative previously, but those perceptions are starting to change both within China and externally. “It's now those brands are starting to be proud of being created in China," he added.

However, quality improvement and efficient global communication are not enough for Chinese brands to survive and thrive. Winston Eavis, director of communications at Huawei, expressed his concern about the firm’s development.

"It's a lot more difficult we feel sometimes to survive and thrive and grow in a flat market, than in a market that's growing 10, 20, 30 percent year-on-year, but that's what we are doing," he said.

While there are certainly obstacles to overcome, Chinese brands have stepped to the plate and are taking root across the world.

 

[TaiShang]

US can’t stop globalization process of increasingly competitive Chinese enterprises

By Hu Weijia Source:Global Times Published: 2018/5/14

US President Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday that he has urged the US Commerce Department to give Chinese telecoms equipment group ZTE Corp "a way to get back into business, fast." A few hours after the announcement, shares of some US-based suppliers to ZTE picked up after hitting a low point due to a US ban on exports to the Chinese company.

ZTE is a major purchaser of US-made semiconductor equipment and components. In April, the US government imposed a seven-year ban on US exports to ZTE, a move that caused both the Chinese company and its US suppliers to suffer big losses.

Washington has many misgivings when handling economic relations with Beijing. On the one hand, restrictions on Chinese investment have proliferated in the US since Trump took office, but on the other hand the US government does not dare to deliver a crushing blow to Chinese companies due to their close connections with the US economy.

The two countries' economic structures are highly complementary, enhancing the elasticity of bilateral economic ties. There is still room for development as well as opportunities in the US for Chinese companies, even for those in sensitive sectors.

The Trump administration might set up obstacles for Chinese companies hoping to step up outward investment, but as long as those companies handle their difficulties with determination and perseverance, they will eventually become great multinational enterprises that are able to keep abreast with their US competitors.

In recent months, a string of Chinese acquisition plans in the US have been blocked due to so-called national security concerns. Chinese companies should draw lessons from this situation, but restrictions on investment will not stop them from increasing their presence in the global market. Their muscles will become stronger as they strive to cushion the frontal attacks given by the US.

The international competitiveness of Chinese enterprises has increased in recent years. Earlier this month, Chinese phone maker Xiaomi filed for what's expected be the world's largest IPO since Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba raised $21.8 billion in New York in 2014. Chinese companies have seen their market shares increase significantly in the world, especially in countries and regions along the route of the Belt and Road initiative. This adds to the evidence that Washington will be unable to stop the globalization of Chinese enterprises.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1102178.shtml

 

[TaiShang]

China won’t sway from upgrading, despite US concerns over ‘Made in China 2025' plan: experts

By Chu Daye Source:Global Times Published: 2018/12/13

Industrial robots on display at an expo in Shanghai in April Photo: VCG

China will not give up its pursuit of technological progress through industrial transformation, even if it makes some changes to the "Made in China 2025" initiative, Chinese experts said on Thursday.

The comments came as media reports said China's
National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is revising the plan, including postponing some aspects by a decade and allowing greater access for foreign companies. China and the US are currently working on a trade deal during a 90-day truce, and the "Made in China 2025" initiative is deemed controversial by the US.

The initiative seeks to boost progress in 10 key sectors from robotics to renewable energy, and has been a key concern for the US amid trade tensions with China.

A State Council circular on the central government's incentive measures for local governments posted on Monday dropped certain clauses for fostering the "Made in China 2025" plan that had appeared in its appraisal list back in 2016.

Zhang Yansheng, chief research fellow with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a think-tank under the NDRC, said China will never give up its efforts to upgrade manufacturing, as this is a core interest for China and will not be compromised in any negotiations.

His comment was backed up in a statement released after a meeting of the top decision-making body of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Thursday.

China will continue to promote high-quality growth of the manufacturing industry as a top priority for 2019, according to the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. The meeting studied economic and other policies for 2019.

"However, it would not surprise me if China takes a practical and realistic approach to address issues where its partner in negotiations has concerns," Zhang said.

"There are some misunderstandings about the policy by foreign governments and companies," Zhang said, noting that allowing wider access for foreign firms in core sectors is in accordance with China's development concept of seeking growth through shared opportunity.

In a June report by the US Trade Representative, the agency directly linked the "Made in China 2025" initiative with alleged Chinese efforts to undermine the US' high-tech industries and economic leadership. This has led to the US levying tariffs on related sectors.

Upgrading inevitable

Wan Zhe, chief economist with the International Cooperation Center of the NDRC, said the pursuit of industrial upgrading is a natural and inevitable step for China as the country moves forward socially and economically.

"As with all plans, it is natural that they get updated according to the circumstances and to keep abreast with the times. It would be an incorrect interpretation to see this as an answer to a demand by another country," Wan told the Global Times on Thursday.

Mei Xinyu, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Thursday that it is impossible for China to give up its right to development but it is possible that a guideline policy such as "Made in China 2025" could get some fine-tuning according to the real situation.

At the moment, "the passion for industrial and manufacturing upgrading and moving up the value chain is at an all-time high in different provinces and cities of China," Mei said.

"The US puts its energy into forcing others to give up their rights to development rather than looking for ways to boost its inner strength. It has forfeited its status as China's teacher," Mei added.

China has taken steps this week to address some US concerns, including a reported plan to cut tariffs on US cars from 40 to 15 percent and plans to buy US soybeans. Last week, China also vowed to strengthen protection of intellectual property.

Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics and an expert on industrial policy, told the Global Times that many Chinese experts are not surprised at the media reports that China is revising the "Made in China 2025" initiative.

"Even if China revises the plan, China's industry policies will still exist for the 10 major emerging industries," Cong noted.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1131834.shtml

 

[Adam WANG SHANGHAI MEGA]

French e-commerce website unexpectedly exposed Huawei's new mobile phone: Huawei P Smart

https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1619715800486221437&wfr=spider&for=pc
Tianji Network 12-13 13:45

Recently, the French e-commerce website Boulanger exposed the pre-order page of Huawei's new P Smart (2019) due to an accident. After the staff responded, the page immediately went offline. Even so, it still can't escape those netizens who have the habit of saving pictures. The screenshot of this page soon appeared on the Twitter of the well-known breaking person Roland Quandt. On this detailed new machine configuration list, Huawei P Smart (2019) The design and configuration of the new machine is clear at a glance.

From the price, the retail price is 249 euros, about 1979.3 yuan, roughly positioned as a mid-range machine. The front side adopts the water drop screen which is quite common in the market, and the rear blue-green gradient back shell and the vertically arranged double-camera module. The screen resolution is 2340×1080, built-in Snapdragon 710 processor and 3GB memory, flash memory is 64GB and supports up to 512GB expansion card slot. For camera, the front is 8 million pixels, and the rear is 13 million + 2 million pairs. Support dual card dual standby, color matching and another black option.

 

[JSCh]

China to speed up development of advanced manufacturing
Source: Xinhua| 2018-12-27 19:26:33|Editor: ZX


BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said Thursday that China would accelerate developing advanced manufacturing and strengthen its innovation and competitiveness.

Miao Wei, minister of the MIIT, said that the ministry would encourage innovation in key areas, strive to make breakthroughs in critical technologies and strengthen the protection of intellectual property.

"As for upgrading the traditional industry, China will persist in phasing out outdated capacity," said Miao, adding that the country would launch a new round of innovation to upgrade key technology and promote digitalization in manufacturing.

China will continue to upgrade and expand the consumption of information, and support innovation in products, including wearable devices, drones, as well as intelligent service robots, Miao said.

Miao also called for stimulating market vitality and fostering more competitive and high-quality companies.

Miao made the remarks at a national meeting on industrialization and informatization after an annual key economic meeting of China's leadership put high-quality manufacturing development high on the work agenda of 2019.